December 2025

when a students is put in an embarrassing situation in class (fell as he was walking towards the board, made an unconscious body noise, etc.) always step up and follow up immediately telling a story about how you yourself were in the same embarrassing situation (stress how embarrassing it was and make sure you exaggerate it so that it seems way worse than what happened to the student). this is very useful in redirecting the spot light from the embarrassed student to the teacher. does not seem that important but for teenagers public awkward situations can affect their confidence long term.

i think teaching is just like doing stand-up comedy. there you are as a teacher/performer in front of crowds, some of which can be very tough and hard to reach. hecklers—students—all around you trying to throw you off. you've got opening lines/jokes and material you spend hours developing. some of us even use props/visual aids during the performances.

a trainer (prof. Mouhdi from ENS 2017) once told us that teaching is like giving a show and a good teacher should have good showmanship. you were dead right prof.